The Silent Alchemist

by Praelior

After the seemingly senseless death of his mentor, Vox Zephyr must go against his mentor's ideals and use his unique alchemy to become a State Alchemist. As he begins to uncover the secrets behind his mentor's past, he discovers terrible secrets of the military itself. In order to find the truth of both his mentor and himself, he must fight the very military he is a part of.

3. Chapter 3: Watch and Learn

Chapter 3: Watch and Learn

The day finally came when I was ordered to report back to Col. Mustang for my certification and first set of orders. I was doing little more than tinkering with my alchemy while I waited for the days to come and go. As I stood in front of the door to Col. Mustang's office, I began to wonder what my first assignment would be. I knocked and Lt. Hawkeye answered the door.

"Oh, come in. The Colonel is expecting you."

"Thank you. Good morning sir."

"Hello Vox. Come here."

I walked over to the Colonel's desk and he handed me an envelope with a silver pocket watch dangling from his finger. I took the envelope and pulled out the paper. It was my certification.

"This hereby certifies that Vox Zephyr is a State Alchemist. Who, from now on, will be known by his designated moniker."

"Moniker?"

"Yes. Each State Alchemist is given a sort of code name. I am known as the Flame Alchemist. Then there's—"

"The Iron Blood Alchemist."

"One of many. Yes."

"Then I am…the Silent Alchemist."

"Yes. The Fuhrer has a sense of humor when it comes to some names, but they all befit their owners. Your display the other day made it practically impossible to give you any other name. So now, with this pocket watch, you are now the Silent Alchemist. A dog of the military."

"My mentor is rolling in her grave. She'd be so proud."

The sarcasm was much harsher than I had intended, but the Colonel acted as if he hadn't noticed and sat back staring at me.

"Something tells me you'll be just as fun to deal with as Fullmetal. You seem to have a reason for giving your life to the military that isn't by the books. Care to tell me why you'd do something you are so clearly against?"

"I have my reasons. May I have my orders sir?"

"Very well. Just know that you aren't the only one with ulterior motives in the military. Every person here has their own agenda, don't allow them to convince you otherwise. As for your orders, you are going to be observing a town in the east and reporting your findings. You are not to act in any circumstance, merely observe. You're good at keeping a low profile I take it?"

"I'll allow your imagination to answer that Colonel."

"I hope your spunk isn't just bravado kid. Very well. The town is called Liore. You're not looking for anything in particular, you're just there to observe and notify us of anything unusual."

"Understood. I assume that I am to leave immediately?"

"You are correct."

"Very well. I'll be leaving then."

"Goodbye."

I headed for the door, but the Colonel stopped me.

"Oh and this here is your military uniform, if you'd like."

I turned around and looked at the standard military garb.

"I'll pass. The only way I could stand out more than with that would be if I had a long red coat, bright hair, and a big mouth."

The Colonel merely laughed as he dismissed me. I didn't know what he thought was funny, but I left and headed to collect my things before heading for the train station. My own personal attire was dark and light, so I could stay inconspicuous and quick whenever the time called. My suitcase was packed and I left for the train station an hour later. Funnily enough, I ran into a guy who was exactly what I had described to the Colonel and a large suit of armor on my way to the station. Coincidences were crazy things.

Unfortunately, traveling to Liore was more of a pain than I realized, considering the train stopped on the opposite side of a desert from it. I began to walk toward the town as the sun relentlessly shined. The heat was almost unbearable and I only grew more irritated with each passing step. Why had I been sent to this god forsaken town in the middle of a desert? It was ludicrous and the sound of the sand being swept around by the wind was tedious. I walked on and on for what seemed like an eternity before the first spire broke the seamless horizon.

As I drew closer, the large building came into view, with the town following its lead shortly thereafter. I had finally reached the damned town, but as I drew nearer, I remembered that I had to be discrete, so entering the town like any other newcomer was out of the question. I had an idea as I neared a building on the outskirts of town, and I activated my first alchemic sequence. The sound of the wind grew softer and softer before disappearing. I had to careful to only influence the sounds outside of the town or risk discovery. When I gathered what I thought to be enough, I aimed my hands down and activated the second sequence, sending the gathered energy out in a large burst and launching my body into the air.

I sailed above the roof and landed as softly as I could manage. I was both surprised and proud that my plan worked as well as it had, and thanks to the close proximity of the buildings, I could now move by rooftop through the town to gather intel. The sun was brutal as I moved along the rooftops and listened with my augmented hearing to the conversations of the town's people. Nothing seemed of value until the radio was turned on and tuned into some guy the locals called Father Cornello. Nothing was strange until his 'miracles' were mentioned. I didn't know what to make of that.

I continued to move through town and decided to figure out a means of finding shelter and food. I wove through the farthest buildings from the center of town and eventually found a small inn that seemed to be wanting in customers. I would stand out due to the low frequency of people, but that was something I had to deal with when it became an issue.

"Hello, can I get a room and possibly a meal and drink?"

"Certainly. Here's your key. I'll have your meal ready shortly."

"Thank you."

The inn was old, but it wasn't rundown as I had expected it to be. The older woman told me my meal was ready and I took the opportunity to gather some more information.

"So, who I this Father Cornello?"

"He's our town's priest. He leads the Church of Lito and performs miracles for our town's people."

"So I've heard. Can you tell me what kind of miracles he performs?"

"He makes things out of thin air, and even brings back the dead. He's brought wealth and joy to our town. We're more prosperous than we've been for a long time."

"I see. Thank you. Oh, have you happened to notice anything out of the ordinary around town lately? Anything strange or unusual?"

"No. Are you looking for something specifically?"

"No. I was just curious."

There was something unusual with this Father Cornello, but other than that I wasn't getting anything. The 'miracles' disturbed me and I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more sinister at work where this priest was concerned. I was going to have to look in on this priest and see what was going on. I thanked the woman and turned in for the night. The next day I headed out early and made my way toward the large building which I now thought to be a cathedral. I snuck in around the back, where I found a door.

The ceilings were high-arched, thankfully, and I pulled out my tools which I had brought for this very situation. I had hand and foot claws to climb along the ceiling. Moving this way was going to be slow and tedious, but that was the best way to avoid detection, after all who looks up? As I moved through the hall, I noticed there were few people on this level and more noise seemed to be above me than around me. I took the stairs up as high as they would go and moved along the ceiling once more.

A commotion broke out on a lower floor and people began to stream through the hall and down the stairs toward the source. I decided to take the opportunity to move freely along the floor and toward a source of sound that didn't move at the sounds of alert. From what I could gather, there were two individuals and they were not like the others. I found another staircase which led up to where they were and moved slowly upwards, careful to not allow any sounds alert them.

I activated my augmented hearing and listened to their conversation.

"Yes, things are moving smoothly. Though the Fullmetal Alchemist is causing quite a ruckus for us. We may have to work around this, but I have the feeling that this will work out in our favor."

"Will I get to eat him Lust?"

"We'll see Gluttony. Right now he's still of use to us."

Why were they calling each other that? Those couldn't be their actual names, and what was he talking about when he asked if he could eat him? I had to know what was going on, but it seemed that I was no longer the only State Alchemist in town. I had to pull back and see what was happening downstairs. The Colonel had told me to only observe, but I thought Fullmetal reported to the Colonel as well, so why was he here? Something was fishy here.

"Someone's here Lust. I can smell him, but I don't know who it is."

What? I moved as quickly as I could to get away from there. I didn't know how he could smell me, but I knew I was the only person in the vicinity of them. Things were becoming stranger by the minute and I was still at a loss for what was happening. There was a rumble deep in the cathedral and more noise from what I assumed was Fullmetal. I was too distracted by the noise downstairs to notice the person around the corner until I ran into him.

"Sorry. I didn't see you there."

"What are you doing here? Something tells me you don't belong here."

"About that…you don't seem like you should be here either. Who are you?"

"Straight to the point, an interesting fellow. My name is John, who are you?"

"My name is Vox."

"You wouldn't happen to be the Silent Alchemist, would you?"

"How do you know that? I never told anyone my state title, not even back in Central. Who are you really?"

"Word travels alchemist. I'm not from around here, so I hear things here and there. Tell me, is your alchemy as interesting as they say?"

"I guess."

A group of men came around the corner and looked straight at us.

"More intruders. Apprehend them."

John didn't seem the least bit bothered, but I activated my primary sequence as they rushed down the hall. Their steps became silent, and so too did their shouts. I could see the surprise and awe on John's face and the terror on the men's faces. I pointed my palms at the group and activated the secondary sequence, creating a shock wave that knocked the group against the far wall.

"That is amazing."

"Yeah, now I suggest you get out of here before more of them show up. Oh and forget that you saw me here."

"Very well alchemist. See you around."

When I turned back to look at him, John was nowhere to be seen. I didn't have time to think about it as I ran down the hall and tried to locate my path of escape. I found a window and climbed out and down the side of the cathedral. Once I got down on the ground, I mixed into the crowd to avoid detection. I was busy making my way to a better vantage point when a transmission came through the radios and out of a speaker on the cathedral. I didn't recognize the younger voice, but the other was Father Cornello.

"Kid...say your prayers!"

"Mister, let's speak frankly here. I just want to know the secrets of that Stone. Or should I request that the military be called in, to investigate the Stone?"

"Very well."

"What are you trying to do with the Philosopher's Stone? If you have it, you don't need any rinky-dink religious order, right?"

"The order would gladly give their lives for my sake and provide me with more believers! They will be the ultimate legion, not even afraid to die, just you watch! In just a few more years, I'm going to set out to rip this country apart, using the Philosopher's Stone and my idiotic believers! I'll even share the leftovers with you! What's so funny?"

The other person, who I realized to be Fullmetal, was laughing.

"Like I said, you're third-string."

"Y-You don't mean..."

"Why, you... When...when did you flip that switch?!"

"Right at the start. It's all out of the bag now."

"How could you do that?! You little brat!"

The transmission cut and the whole town was frozen as the truth sunk in. I was supposed to observe and report, but Fullmetal came in and debunked an entire religion in under a day, rendering me useless. What was I supposed to do now? I suddenly remembered the two in the tower and John, who still struck me as odd. There was still more to be learned here than a simple false prophet. I'd leave that to Fullmetal while I looked more into these unknowns. I headed around to the other side of the cathedral, about where I thought the voices were that I heard earlier.

As I began to scale the wall, the town began to riot and mob in front of the cathedral. A fight was taking place inside from what I could tell and the building was shaking from it. The fighting stopped rather quickly and I hadn't gotten very far up the wall. By the time I reached the window I was after, the sun was almost set and a mob had formed at the door calling for the priest's blood. I tuned my hearing and picked up the same voices from before.

"Indeed, it's all ruined. We should have just incited a little rebellion."

"You..."

"Say, Lust, can I eat this old man?"

"No, Gluttony. If you eat him, it will upset your stomach."

"Everyone is treating me like a fool!"

"We're done with you. And here things were getting heated up. Now we'll have to start over from the beginning again. Father is going to be angry with us. Now then, I wonder what means we should take next."

A sharp noise rang through the air and then what sounded like a body hit the floor. The next sound was teeth crushing what I assumed to be the priest. It took all of my power to resist retching at the horrible sound. As I gathered myself, another person entered the room, but they didn't run in terror.

"So it looks like things didn't work out Lust."

"Thanks for pointing that out. We'll have to come up with something to salvage what we can. Think you can lend your talents Envy?"

"I've got time before I have to take care of my own tasks."

It was then that I recognized the voice. It was John, but the one called Lust just called him Envy. Was he in league with them? If he was, did that make him a friend or foe? Things weren't very clear, and the more I heard, the less I understood.

"Lust, I smell it again."

"The one from before?"

"Yes. It's coming from outside."

That thing smelled me again and this time he could pinpoint me. I was in serious trouble now and with no way to get away fast, things were looking grim.

"You say he was here before? Around the time the Fullmetal pipsqueak was fighting Cornello?"

"Yes, but he fled before we could get him."

"I think I may know who our little friend is."

I didn't have time to think as an arm came through the window and reached down to cease me. There was no possible way to explain how the arm had been able to stretch as it had, but I was being lifted into the room with the three unknowns. Just what were these people?

"Hello Silent Alchemist. I thought we'd see each other again. How nice of you to pay us a visit."

"This is the Silent Alchemist? That explains why only Gluttony's nose could locate him. You really live up to your name kid."

I couldn't speak, or even process what the woman was saying. Her appearance resembled Elaine so uncannily that I thought it was her. She was dead, but this woman looked just like her.

"I think he has a crush on you Lust. I've seen him in action, and I'd say he's quite the catch."

"Really? Tell me, why do you look like you've seen a ghost?"

"You can't be…that's impossible. Who the hell are you and why do you look like her?"

"I don't know who you think I look like, but my name is Lust."

"Can I eat him?"

"Not this one Gluttony. I like him and I think he'll prove useful in the future. You do know his name don't you Lust?"

"What about it?"

"Vox Zephyr. Son and pupil of one Elaine Zephyr."

It was Lust's turn to go pale and for a moment she was frozen. The shock was more than I expected, but my mind began to whirl as what it all meant ran through my head. They knew Elaine somehow and I got the sense that Envy knew more about me than he let on.

"What do you know about Elaine? What connection did you have with her? Why was she killed for being a criminal? What does all of it mean?"

"So many questions. I did say you were an interesting person, didn't I? Most interesting people come with a few mysteries and secrets, though few people are on your end of this deal. Not knowing who your dear mentor was, or who you were, or what that laboratory was for."

Images and flashes ran through my head and the noise began to shriek in my ears. I had to cover my ears and curl up as the pain seared through my head. The darkness, the emptiness, the noise…it all faded as the noise eliminated it all and softened. It was like every time before, but this time someone knew the answers and as I uncurled my body and looked up, I saw the one with the answers I wanted. He had a smirk that made my blood boil.

(A/N): A little dull to start, I'll admit, but now the plot thickens as our favorite homunculi reveal their knowledge of his past. What will he do, and what will he learn? Wait and find out. Until next time, see ya!